Uganda’s TV broadcasters are ready for digital Migration

The digital migration story in Uganda has come along way. With few months away to the June 30th world deadline, Uganda is yet to take the big step and according to National Association of Broadcasters and UCC, 70% of the TV broadcasters are ready for digital Migration.
Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director, said that its only television stations found in Kampala region which are currently digital.

“In Uganda, we have finished installation in Kampala and we are transmitting from Kololo where we installed the digital equipment. The signal also reaches parts of Jinja and Masaka towns, so you can now get a good signal,”

Mr Mutabazi said although UCC is still buying transmitters to cover parts of the country out of the Kampala region, there is hope that this will be completed by June. The commission has agreed with players like GoTV and StarTimes to have the signal covered in areas where the government by the deadline.

“Government is not yet ready for the migration”

Contrary, Mr Kin Kariisa, the vice chairman of National Association of Broadcasters, said government is not yet ready for the migration. He said that there is s only a 10 per cent completion rate to enable the migration across the country. One of the biggest loopholes, Mr Kariisa cited was the lack of analogue to digital converters also known as set-top boxes, which are pricey and not readily available

“At the moment, they cost between UGX 120,000 and UGX 140,000 and we think this is still very expensive. But, as broadcasters, we are ready for the migration,”

Digital migration is a mandatory exercise that was dictated by International Telecommunications Union requiring all countries in the world to move from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting. This was done enable the TV broadcasting stations free up more frequency spectrum for broadband services like 4G- LTE.